1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of automated ball practice and more particularly to a system for tossing balls to automate practice of sports such as baseball, softball, tennis and racquetball.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to become a successful ball player, one must repetitively practice each skill required for the position in which one wishes to aspire. Many ball games include eye-hand coordination whereas an object held in the hand must meet with a ball traveling at varying speeds and trajectories. For example, a baseball player must have sufficient hand-eye coordination as to hit with a bat, a ball that is being pitched. Likewise, a tennis player must hit an incoming tennis ball with a racquet. To hone their skills, a player must practice such hitting/returning over and over.
In bat and ball sports (baseball, softball, etc), eye-hand coordination is also required for catching a ball. To provide a variety of balls to catch, often a batter will toss up a ball and hit it to a fielder, called Fungo hitting. This is often performed using a specially designed bat.
Several machines have been designed and some produced to automate some level of practice. Pitching machines generally emit a ball at a varying speed with a relatively small arc of travel for a hitter to practice baseball hitting or tennis returns. An example of such is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,715,478 to Tanner, which is hereby incorporated by reference. Although the disclosed machine works well at pitching a ball directly towards the player, it does not provide a large arc or lob. A hitter that is performing Fungo hitting would not be able to provide ample fly-ball simulation to help fielders practice with such a machine. Furthermore, a tennis or racquetball player needs to practice their timing when a ball comes at them with a high arc. The machine of the cited patent does not provide for an arc. Additionally, due to the speed of such pitching and the reaction time of the player, such a pitching machine must be located at a considerable distance from the player.
Another such machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,735 to Hancock. This machine, too, pitches directly at the player rather than tossing up the ball.
Another such machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,571 to Tressler. Likewise, this machine pitches directly at the player rather than tossing up the ball.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,262,648 to Wegener, et al., discloses a softball pitching machine. This machine pitches directly at the player rather than tossing up the ball.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,122,822 to Scheiwiller discloses an apparatus for projecting footballs by striking the footballs. This machine pitches the footballs directly at the player rather than tossing the ball in an upward direction. Its striking feature may damage other types of balls such as softballs, baseballs, tennis balls, etc.
What is needed is an apparatus that will simulate an underhand toss of a ball or other round object for fungo hitting and practice returning balls with high arcs.